Family Activities Family Activities Image Family Activities  There are a lot of fun things to do at Morris Arboretum for adults, kids and families. Check out some of our Family Fun Activities that are geared towards kids during your visit and engage the whole family. Download and print the activity PDFs and bring them with you the next time you come to visit Morris Arboretum, or open and view on your mobile device.  Tree Adventure & Treetop Canopy Walk  Generously supported by the Jane and Leonard Korman Family Foundation.  Image Get a bird’s eye view of the forest from 50 feet up, perched on a canopy walk high above ground level. Or scamper down onto the Squirrel Scramble, a huge hammock-like net where you can look down to the ground far below through the rope netting. Enter a Bird’s Nest and sit on a giant robin’s eggs, just waiting to hatch. It’s all part of Morris Arboretum’s Tree Adventure exhibit, connecting us to the natural world, and themed to teach us that we need trees and trees need us.  Designed by Metcalfe Architecture & Design, the exhibit is a fully accessible, fascinating learning experience for both children and adults. Learn more about the green elements of the design here.  Host your next party at Out on a Limb → Your Guide to Tree Adventure  Explore our Treetop Canopy Walk with interactive elements like a listening station which enables visitors to “hear” the sounds of nature from the tree canopy fun interpretative panels to help you explore more about nature and binoculars to help your peer into the treetops.  Download the activity guide → Make a Magical Creature for our Fairy Woods  Morris Arboretum is a place to learn about plants, but it’s also a place to let your imagination run wild. Come to the Arboretum with a big pocket or a tote bag and see what you find scattered around the grounds. An abundance of pine cones, acorns, bark, and lichen that can be turned into a fun art project for kids and adults. Can you make a magical creature, like …

What's in Bloom: January What's in Bloom: January Image January at the Morris Image Lassie Koehne holly Ilex x koehneana ‘Lassie’ Swan Pond Boasting clusters of bright red berries, this broad-leafed evergreen tree is a cross between Ilex aquifolium (English holly) and Ilex latifolia (lusterleaf holly). Selected for its prolific fruit, the Lassie cultivar stands out in the garden this time of year. Image spicebush Lindera salicifolia Long Fountain After their vibrant display of fall color, the leaves of these spicebush shrubs turn a warm tan color and stay on through the winter. Image Japanese stewartia Stewartia pseudocamellia Bark Park Native to the mountainous regions of Korea and Japan, this small tree displays a patchwork of orange, tan, and gray bark as its outer layers shed off of the trunk. Japanese stewartias are in the tea family, Theaceae, and share similar flower characteristics to camellias as indicated in the species name which translates to “false camellia.” Image lacebark pine Pinus bungeana Hill & Water Garden Native to northwest China, this evergreen tree gets its common name from its flaking gray bark that exposes white, tan, and green layers of bark underneath. The lacebark pine at the Hill & Water Garden is original to the Morris Estate. Image Blue Atlas cedar Cedrus atlantica  ‘Glauca’ Between Rose Garden and Pennock Garden Blue-tinted needles create a spectacular display on this striking evergreen tree. Native to the Atlas Mountains in North Africa, Blue Atlas cedars are true cedars, which can be identified by their tight, whorled clusters of needles. The needles get their blue-green color from a waxy coating that helps the tree retain water. Image Winter Gold common winterberry Ilex verticillata ‘Winter Gold’ Sculpture Garden This cultivar of our native deciduous holly is selected for its vibrant orange fruit that stay on significantly into the winter months. Ilex verticillata shrubs are dioecious, meaning the male and female reproductive …

For Kids & Families For Kids & Families Image Image For Kids & Families Growing Minds Garden Railway Tree Canopy Walk Whimsical Woods Family Activities Nature Explorers Summer Camp … For Kids & Families …

What's in Bloom: February What's in Bloom: February Image February at the Morris Image wintersweet Chimonanthus praecox Oak Allée Delicate yellow flowers hang from the leafless branches of these shrubs. Wintersweet is a member of the calycanthus family, Calycanthaceae, and its flowers add a pleasant fragrance to the winter garden. Image snow drops Galanthus sp. Members of the onion family, Amaryllidaceae, these small perennials can be found blooming throughout the garden this time of year. There are several species of snow drops growing in the garden, each with distinct flower characteristics. Image Chinese witchhazel Hamamelis mollis Witchhazel Collection Native to China, these winter-blooming witchhazel shrubs display clusters of fragrant, bright yellow flowers. Each flower has four ribbon-like petals that emerge from red calyxes. Image Rubin witchhazel Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Rubin’ Between Rose Garden and Pennock Garden This shrub is a hybrid between Hamamelis mollis (Chinese witchhazel) and Hamamelis japonica (Japanese witchhazel), and the Rubin cultivar is bred for its showy orange/red flowers. Image hardy cedar-of-Lebanon Cedrus libani ssp. stenocoma Azalea Meadow This subspecies of Cedrus libani is native to the mountainous regions of southwest Turkey. As its common name suggests, this tree has better winter-hardiness than the straight species. It is also more upright and columnar in form, while Cedrus libani branches have a more horizontal growth habit. Image cornel dogwood Cornus officinalis Dogwood Collection Clusters of small yellow flowers adorn this late-winter-blooming tree. Cornus mas (cornellian-cherry dogwood), planted nearby, has similar flowers and form, but Cornus officinalis blooms one week earlier and has more textured, exfoliating bark. Witchhazel Map Explore our witchhazel collection this winter! The Morris Arboretum & Gardens' witchhazel collection is one of the largest in the country. Discover the many varieties of these delightful winter …

High-Res Photo Gallery High-Res Photo Gallery Image Click on an image to download a high-res version.  Image Step Fountain (Credit: Rob Cardillo) Image Rose Garden  (Credit: Rob Cardillo) Image Out on a Limb (Credit: Mark Stehl) Image Pennock Garden (Credit: Julia Lehman) Image Garden Railway (Credit: Rob Cardillo) Image Swan Pond (Credit: Courtesy of the Morris Arboretum) Image Springfield Mills (Credit: Courtesy of the Morris Arboretum) Image Log Cabin (Credit: Ashley Angel) Image Seven Arches in English Park (Credit: Rob Cardillo) Image The Fernery (Credit: Paul W. Meyer) … High-Res Photo Gallery …

Saving the American Chestnut The Morris is on the list to receive some of the first Darling 58 offspring when they become available. The Chestnut Hill neighborhood in which Morris Arboretum & Gardens resides is named after the magnificent American chestnut ( Castanea dentata ) that once forested its knolls and slopes. We have photographs of several wizened old trees that graced our grounds prior to 1915, the year the last of our local trees succumbed to chestnut blight. Image View of American chestnut tree in English Park, spring 1911. In fact, tradition has it that Lydia Morris located our Step Fountain near a huge old chestnut as a memorial to her brother John because it was his favorite tree. Sadly, it died a year later. This virulent parasitic fungus ( Cryphonectria parasitica) was accidentally imported on Asian chestnuts brought into New York City in 1904 and began to spread like wildfire through native stands. The trees had virtually no immunity to the disease, and by 1940, there were practically no trees left through its native range from Maine to Mississippi. American chestnut was a remarkable tree, and the introduction of this disease was, in my opinion, the worst ecological disaster that has befallen our eastern forests since the arrival of European colonists. IMPORTANT STAPLE Chestnut is unusual for several reasons. It is both shade-tolerant and fast-growing, so it could become the dominant tree in both regenerating and old-growth forests. Early summer flowers produce copious quantities of pollen favored by bees and beetles. It produces large crops of highly nutritious nuts every year, unlike oaks, beeches, hickories and pines that might have a large crop only every third or four season. For this reason, it was an important staple for Indigenous peoples as well as myriad mammals and birds. Chestnut wood is very strong and highly decay-resistant, so it was a preferred species for timber framing, siding and fence posts. I worked for a time at the …

Volunteer Spotlight: A Miller's Tale Springfield Mills volunteer tells of lessons learned as the grandson and son of millers. Gino Caporizzo’s large, tanned hand pats a wood beam inside the historic Springfield Mills at Bloomfield Farm. The tour group he’s leading learns very quickly why he touches it so lovingly. “My father and grandfather were millers,” he says proudly, his accent hinting at his heritage in southern Italy. Caporizzo has been a volunteer guide and maintenance worker at Springfield Mills at Morris Arboretum & Gardens for about five years. But his kinship with mills goes back to before World War I with his grandfather, Luigi Caporizzo, who in his mid-20s became an apprentice at one of two grist mills in his hometown of Paternopoli in the province of Avellino, Campania. Image Gino Caporizzo leads a tour inside Springfield Mills. “When the war broke out, he went into the service, and when he came back he became a partner in the grist mill,” said Caporizzo. Powered by water from the nearby river, the mill ground wheat and corn for local residents. Once electricity became available, the mill was moved close to the center of town, but the millstone technology was still used to grind grains and corn as well as acorns for animal feed. Luigi Caporizzo’s typical workday started early in the morning. He labored at the mill until midday, then worked alongside his family on one of two farms they owned. As Gino Caporizzo takes visitors through the 1761 mill situated along the Wissahickon Creek, his thoughts aren’t far from his father and grandfather and their vocation that taught him so much. NEXT GENERATION “My dad, Mario, became an apprentice and a helper for his dad,” said Gino. “As a teenager, he would help his dad at the mill after school.” Caporizzo remembers both men as being close to 6 feet tall and able to lift burlap sacks of grains weighing more than 100 pounds with ease. During World War II, Mario Caporizzo fulfilled his military duties by working as …